]]>Below, you’ll find the Baseball Census master list for every amateur player we covered this spring that was selected in the 2018 MLB Draft. Included in the list are links to our original, on-location, in-depth scouting reports for each player, plus game videos of each player taken during their amateur careers ahead of this week’s draft. Please click on those links for specific information about each player.

For a few hundred more baseball prospects that weren’t drafted, use the search bar function on our website to find scouting reports, feature interviews, in-depth game notes, and more — for both college and minor league prospects. In addition, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for thousands of baseball prospect videos, with new video content added every single day.

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March 26, 2018 — Hillsborough Community College (NJCAA Junior College)

Drafted in the 15th round (463rd) of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Cleveland Indians; draft listed as a catcher, but never seen behind the plate in my looks; third baseman when I saw him with Hillsborough Community College in March … Good hands at third; pretty good reaction times on the ball with a quick first step. Exchanges quickly, throws very well across the diamond; good arm with tight, quick arm action and good accuracy through to target … Decent runner; timed him 4.20 and 4.24 up the line to first base from the RHH box in my look. Good overall athlete who moves well and shows both foot speed and lateral quickness … Short, compact stroke at the plate; not a ton of raw power, and produces a decent amount of weaker ground ball contact, but has some feel for the barrel and shows good plate discipline and strike zone awareness. Bryan Lavastida is primarily a contact guy who won’t provide a ton of value with the bat in pro ball, but could be a decent top/bottom of the order hitter who can set the table; makes for a decently versatile draft pick for the Cleveland Indians here in 2018 — especially depending upon how good he may be behind the plate.

While you’re here…

More people are reading Baseball Census than ever, but advertising revenues across digital media continue to fall. Unlike many sports media outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall, because our core mission is to produce extensive, high-quality prospect content that is free and available for all. To that end, we need your help. Our baseball content takes time, money, and lots of hard work to produce. If you like what you read for free on this site, please help fund Baseball Census’ continued existence by giving any amount of support securely via PayPal:

]]>A Camarillo, California native and product of Oxnard College in Ventura County, right-handed pitching prospect Luke Eubank was initially selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 15th round of the 2014 MLB Draft. The 6’0″, 180-lb. righty has spent his entire pro career in the bullpen since, reaching High-A Lynchburg for a portion of an injury-shortened 2017 season before being sent to pitch for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League to fill out some innings and get back on track after spending much of the summer on the disabled list. At the AFL, Eubank appeared in ten games in relief for Glendale, finishing with no record and a 5.79 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched.

It’s there that Baseball Census saw the sinker/slider righty pitch multiple times this fall, and from our looks, we’ve put together a full Luke Eubank scouting report below. In it, you’ll find tool grades, game video, projection notes, and more on the Cleveland Indians farmhand.

Luke Eubank Scouting Report, Cleveland Indians — 2017

Dates observed in 2017: Arizona Fall League

TOOL (FV)

NOTES & COMMENTS

Fastball (50)

Two-seam look with ample arm side run and sink; fades down and in to RHH and makes for a tough pitch to square up when down in the zone. Sink is occasionally hard; the harder and deeper, the better. Long, loose gunslinger arm action helps with pitch life; consistent sink makes pitch a ground ball machine when down. Not overpowering, and won’t miss a ton of barrels at higher levels, but reliable to draw weak ground ball contact with consistency. Command must improve; will flatten out and get fat above the knees. Struggles to execute it with as much life to glove-side as to arm-side; less consistent ability to backdoor the pitch glove-side and keep LHH off the plate. Velocity: 89-92, T 93.

Slider (40)

10-to-4 break; slower spinner with sweeping action rather than hard downward bite. Inconsistent execution; will spin out and back up as he gets around it rather than on top and behind the pitch. Low arm angle aids deception and some sweeping action, making it difficult for RHH to square up when thrown well, but issues with getting under the pitch and hanging it with no bite. At its best, tunnels well with the fastball, but inconsistent execution without good, late life makes it a must-improve if he’s to throw high-leverage innings. Velocity: 78-81, T 82.

Changeup (40)

Nearly identical movement to fastball at its best, with speed differential and some tumble. Comparable pitch to tunnel with fastball and slider from same arm slot and release with arm-side life. As with slider, inconsistent execution here particularly with inability to throw it effectively to glove-side. Some feel for arm action and grip on the pitch, but lacks ability to actualize it beyond setting low middle and letting it run. Needs more nuance in spotting to survive consistently as weak contact pitch at higher levels, especially with LHH leaning out over the plate. Velocity: 80-82, T 83.

Control/Command (50/40)

Control ability to fill up the zone and draw swings over the top of his arsenal with ample downward movement. Command is an issue, though, with too many misses in the zone. Not enough velocity or natural life when left up to give him a margin of error; everything flattens out in upper half of zone and risks being squared up there. Profiles well to continue in relief with command and control as they are now, but even so, could stand to improve command and better execute full repertoire at knees more consistently to work ahead and keep hitters on their heels. Little margin of error; LHH will hit him very hard.

Mechanics

Conventional look with very long arm action in the back; lots of hand movement early, shows the ball very early on arm swing behind head. Low three-quarters delivery with some cross-body deception; lands closed to the plate and makes for a tough at-bat against RHH with sidewinding feel. Drop and drive guy who lacks downward plane; all depth/sink he gets relies on arm action and hand/grip manipulation of the ball. Will drop elbow and get under the ball too often, pushing it up in the zone and flattening it out. LHH pick the ball up very early, pointing him towards a matchup role vs RHH in his future.

Intangibles

Undersized with some command issues, but there’s enough natural life to his sinker that makes Luke Eubank an interesting follow. As with many sinkerballers, his off-speed stuff lags behind, and it’s imperative for him to develop a more consistent slider with depth out of the same tunnel as the fastball. Expect a middle relief job at ceiling with matchup work particularly against RHH, and a more likely up-and-down role in his baseball future.

Luke Eubank Scouting Report — Cleveland Indians — 2017 Game Video

Luke Eubank Scouting Report — Notes, Analysis & Projection

Undersized ever since his time in college and yet still overachieving from then through today, Luke Eubank has an interesting arsenal that can produce a ton of weak, ground ball contact when he’s working down in the zone. His sinker has a shot to be his true carrying pitch with a ton of natural life if he can show some modest command improvements, but as with many sinkerballers, his off-speed stuff lags behind enough to ultimately limit his ceiling into low-leverage relief without any realistic expectation that he’ll miss bats at the next level.

The Cleveland Indians may have a workable long/middle reliever here over the next few years thanks to that sinker, but I’m not bullish on the righty producing too much more as he reaches the upper minors. It may likely be less than middle relief, too, with a real shot here to fade back into organizational depth. Luke Eubank could reach Triple-A Columbus by the end of 2018 if he stays healthy, but regardless, he’s unlikely to be a future big league reliever of note beyond occasional emergency/up-and-down work depending on roster needs.

]]>http://baseballcensus.com/2017/12/07/cleveland-indians-luke-eubank-scouting-report-baseball-player-evaluation-video-2017/feed/5San Diego Padres: Trevor Frank feeling right at home after a year in his new organizationhttp://baseballcensus.com/2017/08/23/san-diego-padres-trevor-frank-baseball-new-organization-rule-5-draft-feature-interview/
http://baseballcensus.com/2017/08/23/san-diego-padres-trevor-frank-baseball-new-organization-rule-5-draft-feature-interview/#commentsWed, 23 Aug 2017 18:28:18 +0000http://baseballcensus.com/?p=10781Rancho Cucamonga, California —— The last thing Trevor Frank ever expected was that he’d leave the Cleveland Indians. A right-handed reliever who wrapped the 2016 season at High-A Lynchburg with 17 saves, a 2.47 ERA, and a meager .191 opponents’ batting average over 43.2 innings, the righty was sent off to the prestigious Arizona Fall …

A right-handed reliever who wrapped the 2016 season at High-A Lynchburg with 17 saves, a 2.47 ERA, and a meager .191 opponents’ batting average over 43.2 innings, the righty was sent off to the prestigious Arizona Fall League to pitch for the Mesa Solar Sox last October. The AFL is prime territory for showing off prospects ahead of winter trades, of course, but Trevor Frank didn’t think he threw well enough in the fall to warrant any interest from other organizations.

“I didn’t have the greatest Fall League, so I didn’t think anything was going to happen,” Frank admitted to Baseball Census in a pre-game interview on Tuesday afternoon at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga.

The San Diego Padres had other plans, though, and they selected Frank—a hometown kid from El Cajon and Valhalla High School—in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft in December.

Moving organizations, whether via the Rule 5 Draft, trade, or free agency, can be a shock to a prospect who hasn’t yet been through the roster churn of the big leagues. And so it was to Frank, who suddenly found himself back home in southern California—he was a bit shellshocked to have left the Cleveland Indians during a winter where he thought he might be added to their 40-man roster.

“The Indians were trying to keep me, they told me that they were trying to hide me so they could keep me, but they only had one [40-man roster] spot open, so they couldn’t really do much,” Frank remembered. “They put [Francisco Mejia] on [the 40-man], which, you can’t not put him on there. He’s an amazing catcher, he was my catcher last year.”

“But when I went to Petco [Park] and worked out there in the offseason, [the San Diego Padres] told me they had wanted me in the [Rule 5] Draft, so they were happy that I came up on the list to pick,” Frank recalled. “And that’s the only way you can take it. Somebody wants you. It’s been nice that it’s my hometown team. There are some changes — nothing has been drastic, but the way the Padres run things is a little bit different [than the Indians]. But it’s good to be settled in. All the guys that are coordinators here were guys I looked up to when I was younger, so it’s pretty cool to meet them.”

As much as Trevor Frank has been able to find a home here with the San Diego Padres, and this summer their High-A affiliate, the Lake Elsinore Storm, that’s not to say changes haven’t been significant. The Cleveland Indians had him closing at High-A Lynchburg, but his role this season has taken on a more multi-inning look, and that has been a challenge for Frank to figure out.

“The Padres had me throwing mostly just one inning for a while, but recently in the last couple months they’ve been pushing me to two and three innings,” he noted, having thrown multiple innings in eleven of his 38 outings this summer compared to just two multi-inning outings in 44 appearances last year. “I’ve been struggling a little bit in those third innings, but I’m just trying to do whatever they need. Obviously, I haven’t really moved [up] much yet, but I’ll do whatever they need me to do to get to the big leagues. That’s where I want to be.”

Frank will have to put in work to get there upon seeing a return to earth this summer after his stellar 2016 season in High-A with the Cleveland Indians. He’s missing more bats than he ever has, though — 64 strikeouts in 52.0 innings this summer — and his command has been impeccable, walking just nine hitters in those 52 innings while earning three wins and seven saves in relief across Lake Elsinore and a brief two-game stint at Triple-A El Paso. But he’s proven to be significantly more hittable this year than last, perhaps a testament to the difficulty in following up a great year, but also likely an issue related to where he’s pitching. To put it bluntly, his experiences in the California League and the Pacific Coast League this summer have been an awakening for Trevor Frank.

“It’s totally different here,” he said, laughing when asked about pitching in the Cal League in the knowing way that reveals the league’s reputation among players. “Pitching here means being smart. Here, you can’t really miss a pitch. There [in the Carolina League], if you leave a slider up, you might get away with it. It probably won’t go out of the park. But you have to pitch different here. You have to go after guys and be confident, because if you’re not confident, you’re going to get hit. Bobby Bradley last year [with the Cleveland Indians in Lynchburg], he had almost 30 home runs in the Carolina League, and if he was playing here, it would have been insane seeing how many home runs he would have hit.”

Even a two-appearance stint in Triple-A — with both games coming for El Paso on the road in hitter-friendly Las Vegas — taught Frank that pitching out west in windy, dry ballparks requires a certain level of intent that doesn’t always need to show up as consistently in humid, muggy, low-altitude places back east.

“When I went up for six days to Triple-A, I pitched well my first outing, and then I got kind of lackadaisical and I wasn’t throwing with confidence,” the righty recalled. “Next thing I know, I wasn’t getting ahead of guys, and they started hitting it. And that’s really the thing here. If you don’t get ahead of guys, they’re going to get you. I think that’s the biggest difference I’ve seen out here.”

That, and being back home, of course.

Living with family in Menifee and enjoying his time back around his high school haunts in El Cajon, Trevor Frank sure could have it a lot worse than he does, all things considered. He’s comfortable now in his new organization, and coming around to how the San Diego Padres see his future role, too. To that end, he may not be far from reaching his dream of throwing at the club’s gorgeous downtown ballpark where he spent so many days as a kid watching his beloved hometown team. Maybe things didn’t work out too badly after all.

]]>http://baseballcensus.com/2017/08/23/san-diego-padres-trevor-frank-baseball-new-organization-rule-5-draft-feature-interview/feed/1Cleveland Indians: Bradley Zimmer makes his major league debut — here’s what to expecthttp://baseballcensus.com/2017/05/17/cleveland-indians-bradley-zimmer-mlb-debut-scouting-report-expectations/
http://baseballcensus.com/2017/05/17/cleveland-indians-bradley-zimmer-mlb-debut-scouting-report-expectations/#respondThu, 18 May 2017 03:42:01 +0000http://baseballcensus.com/?p=8786The Cleveland Indians promoted outfielder Bradley Zimmer over the weekend, calling up their top prospect to the big leagues and giving him a first taste of The Show. Life is good early on for the outfielder, who got both his first hit and his first home run in the same Wednesday game for the AL …

]]>The Cleveland Indians promoted outfielder Bradley Zimmer over the weekend, calling up their top prospect to the big leagues and giving him a first taste of The Show. Life is good early on for the outfielder, who got both his first hit and his first home run in the same Wednesday game for the AL Central club.

The University of San Francisco product has a patient, advanced approach at the plate with a very, very good understanding of the strike zone and an astute ability to draw a walk and work a deep count. That combination alone should allow him to come up to speed pretty quickly the big leagues. Below, we’ve got a full Bradley Zimmer scouting report, plus two full videos of his at-bats at the Arizona Fall League and a series of GIFs breaking down the Cleveland Indians prospect’s swing mechanics.

Bradley Zimmer MLB debut: what to expect

An advanced hitter who can really draw a walk, Bradley Zimmer had a decent 2016 split between Double-A and Triple-A, but flipped it into a very strong Arizona Fall League showing last offseason. He then made his Major League debut earlier this week after tearing up the International League with Columbus over the first month of the 2017 season. You’ll know he’s right when he’s walking at a high rate; the outfielder walked 77 times in 130 games last year, and then 19 more times in 22 AFL games in October and November, a sign that he’s been seeing the ball extremely well and has been patient in his approach. He’ll strike out his fair share, too (171 whiffs in 130 2016 games alone, plus 26 more in the AFL), but that’s as much of a byproduct of him working very deep counts in nearly every at-bat as it is having some swing-and-miss in his game (though there is some of that, too).

Zimmer’s power is at least average, if not slightly above, with some scouts going so far as to think he’ll hit 20+ home runs in the big leagues. Personally, I’m a little more skeptical about that much power after seeing him hit in the Fall League, but he does have a smooth, quick stroke from the left side and more than enough size to generate leverage in addition to his bat speed. With the amount of strikeouts he’s had already in his professional career, it’s not likely he will ever hit for average. But if his on-base numbers are high even in spite of those strikeouts, he can overcome an average hit tool with that shrewd eye and be a top-of-the-order mainstay. On the bases, Zimmer is fast with good instincts, and he displays above-average speed and the ability to steal 30+ bases at the big league level.

Defensively, Zimmer uses that speed well, too, and he couples it with very good jumps and reads on the ball. Because of that, he should find himself staying in center field for much of his career. He can play all three outfield positions as needed, though, and his arm is slightly above average so it wouldn’t be unforeseen if he’s moved off to right field in the long run, too. Above all, he has the raw tools to succeed in the big leagues coupled with a knack for getting on base via the walk that will only continue to come out stronger as he advances. He’s got the athleticism to play center field long term, too, and will get every shot to one day soon become an everyday outfielder for the Cleveland Indians. Yes, he’ll strike out a lot, and yes, he’ll take some long at-bats, but the sum total is a guy who gets on base quite a bit, can show a little bit of power, and can run well once he’s given the opportunity.

CC Lee scouting report notes

A big league veteran who saw The Show in parts of three seasons with the Cleveland Indians, CC Lee came over to the Colorado Rockies in a minor league deal in December, 2016 and it’s early on proving to be a shrewd, if quiet, minor league free agent acquisition for the NL West club. Yes, Lee is 30 years old, and his most projectable pitching days are behind him, but he’s throwing the ball very well for the Albuquerque Isotopes right now in Triple-A in the Colorado Rockies’ system, and he’s doing it with slightly more velocity are harder, more developed stuff than he’s had in his past — and that you’d expect of most guys coming out of bullpens in the Pacific Coast League.

Late last night, we profiled Colorado Rockies reliever Austin House in another scouting report—you can read that report in full right here—and Lee is similar in outcome anchoring the ‘Topes bullpen right now: 26 strikeouts against seven walks in 18.1 innings pitched over 14 games, to go along with a 2-1 record and a 2.95 ERA with a .232 opponents’ batting average. It’s what a big league veteran should be doing in the PCL, maybe, but the stuff Lee is showing while doing it is encouraging, and might give him enough to sneak another shot at the big leagues if a role in the Rockies’ bullpen opens up.

Lee’s fastball is sitting 93-94 mph right now, which is a slight bit above his big league fastball averages from the last few years. He’s topping out at 95 mph, and showing good, late arm-side run on the pitch that is tying up right-handed batters and leaving the door open low and away for his slider. That slider, which has great tilt and is thrown hard at 82-84 mph (topping out at 85 mph), has proven to be a very good strikeout pitch for CC Lee in this league. He hides it well, throws it like a fastball, and commands it like one, too. Those two pitches have proven to be more or less all that he needs against Triple-A hitters, and it should help him survive moderately well in the big leagues again, too, if he throws in short stints. His arm looks alive, and there’s more in the tank here to be used if he’s called upon at Coors Field.

There’s a reason we ran our CC Lee scouting report at the same time we look at Austin House down in Albuquerque; both relievers are throwing the ball very well right now, but Lee has the distinct advantage in a few different ways and might be a wise choice should the Rockies need to dip down into the ‘Topes bullpen and off their 40-man. Lee’s big league experience will play well for him should he called up again; his fastball has a bit more consistent, late life to it than House’s, along with being thrown slightly harder; and Lee’s slider has more pinpoint command and a sharper break with better tilt.

Obviously, whether Lee or House ever get called up by the Colorado Rockies, either one will fill a low-leverage bullpen role rather than serving as major parts of the club’s future plans. But both are throwing well right now in Triple-A, and eventually, everybody needs some bullpen help. When that time comes for the Rockies, while there are strengths to both of these hurlers, CC Lee has the tools, stuff, and experience far more readily accessible to contribute quickly at the big league level.